Baseball: Present MLB draft format a waste of time, money

Sunday

Jun 9, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Bill Ballou Baseball

Baseball’s amateur draft, which concluded on Saturday, is on the verge of surpassing the Democratic and Republican national conventions as the biggest waste of time, energy and electricity in the country.

At least the conventions happen only every four years and are, in theory anyway, legal.

The draft should not be, which is where the whole event begins to fall apart. Outside of the major spectator sports, where else are American job seekers restricted as to where they can work, and whom they can work for?

There is no draft for teachers — “Tahanto Regional High selects Amanda Quinn from Worcester State University” or plumbers — “Gustafson Plumbing picks Jason Crawford from Blackstone Valley Tech,” so why should there be one for athletes?

For now, the draft is a reality and in three of the four spectator sports, it actually makes some sense. In baseball, it does not, at least in its current form.

We understand that baseball is a contrary game. You can hit a ball 418 feet to right-center at Fenway Park and be out, or you can swing and miss at a pitch so bad even the catcher can’t handle it and reach first base if it’s strike three.

That’s the game. The business side of it is equally contrary at times.

Take the Red Sox. They can pay $7 million to Joel Hanrahan to not pitch in 2013, then save money by getting rid of the cans of whipped cream at the soft serve machine in press dining. Now, we media types are gluttons indeed, but even we can’t eat $7 million worth of whipped cream in one summer.

Maybe two, but not one.

It has to be pretty tough for the Sox to eat Hanrahan’s contract, too, but that’s baseball.

The draft and the game’s player development systems seem to be hugely inefficient wastes of millions of dollars. The ratio of drafted players who reach the majors is variously estimated at 2 out of 50, or 4 percent. If that’s true, why have 40 rounds? The sleeper players like Daniel Nava and Chris Colabello — let the independent leagues worry about them, and if they are good enough, they’ll find their way to the majors.

Take the 2003 Red Sox draft 10 years ago, so enough time has passed to evaluate it. Boston selected 52 players and got two authentic big leaguers out of it — David Murphy and Jonathan Papelbon. Murphy was chosen in the first round, Papelbon in the fourth.

The current 25-man roster in Boston includes five Sox draft picks — Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Jackie Bradley Jr. None of them were sleepers. And every time the Sox tout their scouting successes by claiming that they saw intangibles in Pedroia that nobody else did, they also failed to see the intangibles in Daniel Bard, who was a first-round pick in 2006.

At the end of the day, there is no evidence that for all the time and effort spent on scouting, the results are any different than they would be if teams just posted some names on the wall and threw darts at them. It’s like picking stocks or betting on NFL games.

If Boston has just five of its draftees on the team, it still needs players for currency in the trade market, and the Sox frequently use their young players that way. So, given that, they have six players they traded to get. That makes 11. Otherwise, more than half of the players on the active roster — 14 — were signed as free agents.

The Sox list six minor league teams, and that does not count the Caribbean summer leagues. At 25 players per team, that’s 125 minor leaguers and considering how few of them will make the majors, most are essentially being employed so that the Pedroias, Lesters and Ellsburys of the world will have someone to sit next to on the bus ride to Altoona.

Until it is declared illegal, baseball needs an amateur draft, but it does not need 40 rounds. Maybe 10 would be fine. And with a 10-round draft, it would not need all the minor leagues — one high level, one middle level and one entry level would suffice.

Just think of the money the game would save, and just think of how good that whipped cream will taste.

Answers.

1. The three players drafted and signed by the Red Sox who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

2. He was their manager the last time the Mets won more games in a season than the Yankees.

3. The last right-handed pitcher to lead the Red Sox in strikeouts for a season.

Questions below.

The Astros have been one of baseball’s better teams this month, but the Marlins are still awful. Anyway, with the season 10 weeks old, there have been only seven days on which both Houston and Miami won games. … Alex Gonzalez was released by the Brewers earlier this week and has yet to find work. Gonzalez had two separate stints with the Red Sox and played on disappointing teams — 2006 and 2009 — but until Jose Iglesias proves otherwise, Gonzalez is the best defensive shortstop I’ve ever seen in a Boston uniform. … Is it any wonder that people have become so skeptical about injury reports? This Josh Beckett issue — numbness in his right hand — has a familiar ring to it. In August 2008, Beckett reported the same thing after getting shelled in Toronto. He missed two starts and returned to the rotation; at the time, he and the Sox said the numbness was probably caused by him sleeping the wrong way on his shoulder. Sure, that was it. … Strictly subjective here, but Mike Carp’s home run to right in the first game on Saturday was the season’s best in terms of style points — perfect trajectory off the bat and over right fielder Josh Hamilton’s head, finishing with a soft landing in the bleacher seats. … David Ortiz’s knack for hitting game-ending home runs is Hall of Fame impressive, and it looks even more so when you realize that since he has been in Boston, which goes back to 2003, only one other Red Sox batter has hit more one — Kevin Youkilis with two.

In the minors, the Red Sox announced their various Players of the Month for May, and they are:

•Starting pitcher — Anthony Ranaudo of Double-A Portland, who was 3-1 with a 1.91 ERA in six appearances.

•Reliever — Brock Huntzinger, also of Portland, who was 2-0 with six saves and a 1.64 ERA in 10 games.

•Defensive player — Deven Marrero of Class-A Salem, who made one error in 14 games at shortstop.

•Base runner — Betts with 23 runs, 13 doubles and 8 steals.

•Base stealer — Jeremy Hazelbaker at Triple-A Pawtucket, who was 12 for 14 in 27 games.

Also, Betts and designated hitter David Chester of Greenville were chosen as South Atlantic League All-Stars.

Reliever David Aardsma is back in the majors after missing all of 2011 and most of 2012 with injury problems. He has been called up by the Mets, meaning he has been with both New York teams, and both Chicago teams, along with the Mariners, Giants and Red Sox; one of Jimy Williams’ bench coaches, Buddy Bailey, is managing the Cubs’ Double-A team at Tennessee; Brian Daubach is the manager for the Nationals’ Carolina League (A) team at Potomac.

Sidearm reliever Todd Frohwirth is a scout for the Orioles; Scott Hatteberg of Moneyball fame is working for Billy Beane as a special assistant to the Oakland GM; and Dave Hollins, who was with Boston in ’95, a year before the Twins traded him to Seattle for Ortiz, is a pro scout with the Phillies.

1. Who are Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs and Jim Rice? Fisk was drafted and signed in 1967 and entered the Hall of Fame in 2000; Boggs was drafted and signed in 1976 and became a Hall of Fame member in 2005; and Rice was drafted and signed in 1971 and was inducted into the Hall in 2009.

2. Who is Bobby Valentine? His 2000 Mets were 94-68, while Joe Torre’s Yankees were 87-74. The Yanks prevailed in the World Series, however.

3. Who is Josh Beckett? Jon Lester led Boston in strikeouts from 2009 to 2011, and Felix Doubront led the Sox last season.

Contact Bill Ballou at wballou@telegram.com.

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